Sunday, June 06, 2010

Sambal Nasi Lemak/Dried Anchovies Sambal

Sambal Ikan Bilis is the main condiment for Nasi Lemak. To me a good Nasi Lemak is all about the sambal.. It can either make or break this popular national dish of Malaysia. I usually prepare a huge batch of sambal and keep them in the fridge and I can use it whenever I want it. I am sure most of you already have your favorite version of sambal but I just wanted to post it here for my own record and also one of my blog reader JS asked for it too. I am not a big fan of having the whole ikan bilis in my sambal as I find them rather chewy after cooking it in the sambal paste. So when I came across the recipe from Ju of The Little Teochew I just have to try it out. She got this recipe from The Sunday Times. The different about this sambal is it has ground ikan bilis in it which I like a lot. I added some tamarind pulp to the dish and double up the quantity.

1. Blend chili, onions and garlic into fine paste and set it aside. Soak the tamarind pulp in the water for 15 minutes to soften it up. Then squeeze the tamarind constantly to extract the flavor into the water. Drain the pulp and save the tamarind juice
2. Heat up the frying pan, add in the oil and fry the ikan bilis (anchovies) until brown and crispy. Remove and drain the oil. Ground it into fine powder and set it aside.
3. In the same frying pan and oil add in the blended chili paste and stir-fry until fragrant or until you see oil floating to the top. It will take about 10-13 min.
4. Add in the tamarind juice and the ikan bilis powder. Continue to stir-fry until the liquid evaporated. Add in sugar and salt to taste.

My gosh, Gert. Why do I have to come face-to-face with your nasi lemak when I am having nothing but kaya on bread for breakfast? It looks out of this world yummy! Better than Madam Kwan's, in fact. Haha. Thanks for the link up and I'm glad you liked the recipe. :)

your nasi lemak make me drooling even I just finish eating KFC!! btw,I also just cook 3 qtr of sambal tumis yesterday..this time mine sambal tumis is super hot!! where do you cook your sambal indoor or outdoor?

Mmm...yummy! You know what, I have nasi lemak for breakfast at least 2times a week..heehee..;p I just love it, but never never try to cook myself. I find it abit too much work, haha! (lazy excuse). Btw, yours looks good!!

Wow...u wouldn't know how much i miss nasi lemak. I always like to make my own sambal but it's hard to get the fresh chili like the one we found in m'sia. Will try it out when i back to m'sia, hehe~~ tkz for sharing.

Gert, I must try this out. I have love nasi lemak all my life and will not get bored with it. We can have it for breakfast , lunch or dinner and you are right...a good sambal is important if making nasi lemak. Your recipe is slightly different here. I am sure it is very tasty and delicious. Thanks for sharing the recipe and thanks to Ju too :)

Hi Gert. I tried this recipe yesterday but my sambal came out all lumpy almost like hae bee hiam. wonder what i did wrong. any idea? wonder if adding more water would help or add more oil (alhtough I felt that I used alot of oil). I came back to your blog and love the texture/consistency of you sambal. That I know is how it should be. any advice you have would be much appreciated. regards josephine

Copyright Statement

All photographs and written content featured at My Kitchen Snippets are by Gertrude Patane unless otherwise stated. If you are interested in using the contents or photographs please ask for permission first. If you re-post a recipe, please give credit and post a link back to this site. Please do not alter, transform or build upon any aspect of her work without prior consent.

About Me

I was born and raised in Malaysia and now live in Northern California, USA with my wonderful husband Carlos. I love to bake and cook. It is very relaxing and I find my creativity flowing in the kitchen. I creates this blog to record all my cooking and baking adventures and also share my tested recipes with you.
I don’t consider myself an expert but all the recipes here are tried and tested by me, unless noted otherwise.
If you have any suggestions or comments please feel free to do so, If you’re feeling shy or have a question about a recipe, drop me a line instead. My e.mail address is at my profile.
To know more about my life you can always hop over to my other blog.